I’m sure a lot of you have heard of this movement already. It’s been HUGE on twitter and across the blogosphere since the BlogPaws conference last weekend. This video has practically been going viral and it’s easy to see why. It’s a simple concept and yet the potential impact for animals everywhere is unimaginable! The video is also incredibly touching and no one seems to be able to watch it with a dry eye. Already people have raised close to $1000 for a no-kill rescue in Columbus, Ohio: Pets Without Parents. Challenges are being laid down all over the place for more people to get involved and do their part to help animals. It’s already a well-organized, well-oiled machine, getting out an incredibly important message that people seem to be responding amazingly well to. To think this all started with a session at the first-ever pet bloggers conference…

I had the pleasure of attending the “Be The Change You Want to See” session. No lie, and I told this to all of the panel speakers I met, this was my absolute favorite session! Seriously, I was quite mad at myself afterward for not having taped it. I hope they come together next year for another session! It was so inspiring and motivating that I was all gung-ho and ready to make a difference even before they threw down the #BeTheChange challenge! The panel consisted of Dr. V from Pawcurious, Dorian Wagner from Your Daily Cute and Lynn Haigh from Pawpawty.com and was moderated by Jane Harrell from Petfinder.com.

Jane started the session by talking a little about Petfinder.com. She talked about how Petfinder began and that in and of itself was one of the most awe-inspiring stories about helping animals I’ve ever heard! Did you know that Petfinder was created back in 1995 by Betsy and Jared Saul, a husband and wife who dared each other to make a real difference with their New Year’s Resolutions. They decided that the internet needed to be utilized to help shelter animals get more exposure and they began by personally entering the information and photos of homeless animals around New Jersey. As they grew, they decided to expand nationwide and they have never looked back! 15 years later and Petfinder has helped to unite over 15 MILLION pets with loving owners! I can’t even begin to imagine how incredible the Sauls’ must feel. Their one, relatively small decision has changed the lives of 15 million animals for the better. 15 MILLION! Wow. Just wow.

First up from the panel was Dr. V who was very charming as she told of her “harebrained” idea to raise money by eating dog food. She thought it would be something small but quickly found out that people really enjoy watching other people eat gross things. She raised more than she ever expected: $2250, which with a matching donation from the incredible people at k9uisine.com, meant a total of $4500 for the shelters she was supporting! Not bad for crazy scheme, huh? Now crazy is something I can do. In fact, it’s what I do best. I come up with silly ideas and Nikki helps bring them to fruition. We can make a difference too! (By the way, to raise money for today’s #BeTheChange challenge, Dr. V also ate some Pupperoni! Yum!)

Next to speak was Dorian Wagner who related the stories of how she has raised not just money but also toys for animals in need! I love her idea for the Santa Paws Drive and can’t wait to help her raise awareness this year! Can you imagine the happiness that would come from giving homeless pets their very own Christmas presents? I know they’re animals but you will never for one second convince me that that they did not feel that they were loved when they received those toys! They knew that someone in the world cared for them and that’s the best Christmas gift you could ever ask for!

Last, but most certainly not least, on the panel was Lynn, who is probably best known for being the typist for @frugaldougal on twitter. He’s the hairy mastermind behind what has become one of the biggest pet sensations on twitter – the PawPawty. A PawPawty is an all-twitter, 24-hour “pawty” held to raise donations for different animal rescues & organizations that are randomly chosen from suggestions of participants. The first PawPawty was held back in March of 2009 and in that very short amount of time, the PawPawties have raised a total of $26,060 for 17 different animal groups! Isn’t that just incredible? I am in awe! Lynn, who is always entertaining, told great stories about the blunders she found herself in as she learned the ins and outs of raising money online. The tale that probably got the most laughs was the one where PayPal contacted her & suspended her account because they thought she was a money launderer! Haha! All I can say is that I’m glad these bumps in the road didn’t deter her because the animal world wouldn’t be the same without her and Mr. FD!

At the end of the session, they gave away some cute prizes and one lucky winner got to choose the shelter that would receive the donations raised by the first #BeTheChange pawty. As it turns out, the woman who won worked with Pets for Parents, one of the groups who were lucky enough to receive $2800 from BlogPaws, as well as presents from a few of the sponsors! They must have some major karma built up to be so lucky! The majority of #BeTheChange participants are raising money for this group and they have already doubled the set goal of $500. That’s awesome for them! However, since they have so many people backing them already, I’m going to help raise awareness for another group in need of donations.

Romeo Golon aka Romeothecat and his staff Caroline also pick animal groups each month that they raise donations for. This month’s rescue is Forever Home Feline Ranch which is a newer no-kill cat rescue based in Springfield, Illinois. They are currently without a physical ranch but are instead a dedicated network of fosters. Who knows, the donations raised could go towards getting them a real ranch! For more information, check out the FirstGiving page set up by Romeo here. This looks like a great group and I know they can use all the help they can get. Being a foster is not easy but these wonderful volunteers do it because they know they are changing the lives of the cats they save. Can you help them out?

Now don’t think you’re alone in taking up this challenge. Nikki & I have something up our sleeves for the #BeTheChange pawty as well but that won’t be announced until this Sunday. For now, let’s get out there and help an animal today! That being said, time to go feed the ferals that live around our house. ^_^

Filed under: Animals in Need, BlogPaws, Causes, Donations, Events, Rescue/Shelter, Videos on April 16th, 2010 | 3 Comments »

What follows is Part 3 of our BlogPaws adventures. This whole week will be a post a day about the sessions we went to, the people we met, the wonderful and inspiring feelings we took back with us from this conference. If you didn’t know, BlogPaws was a conference held in Columbus, Ohio this past weekend that brought together pet bloggers and animal advocates from all over the world. It was truly a life-changing conference.

Friday night came and went and we were well into the early morning hours of Saturday before we finally shut our eyes (this had become a theme). Ash and I woke up a little later than we wanted to because of this, but we managed to get to breakfast and met up with the rest of the Pedigree-sponsored bloggers for coffee and fruit and muffins.

The morning ceremony started with Tom, Yvonne, and Caroline talking about the night before and all the amazing connections they saw in the making. “It’s all about the bloggers!” Michelle from the American Animal Hospital Association got up and spoke about both educating people and celebrating the pets in our lives. The “AAHA believes in setting ‘The Standard of Veterinary Excellence.’ Throughout the Association’s 75 years, its mission has remained the same: provide veterinary professionals with the resources they need to effectively manage their businesses and deliver the best in companion animal care.” After her talk, she introduced the morning keynote.

If you watch Animal Planet, then you’re already familiar with the talented Andrea Arden, host of Underdog to Wonderdog. Her keynote was my favorite of all the speakers and I found her words the most inspiring. She was very down to earth and easy to relate to. She struck on why blogs are important and how they are great resources for networking. She told us a story of a thirteen year old boy who loved her blog so much he wanted to intern with the show, and another story of a five year old girl who saved up her allowance, a whole $5, to give to her local shelter. “Storytelling develops us as people,” she remarked. She introduced a new thought: the intentional community. Blogging is storytelling made easy and people who read it help spread your message. It’s ongoing. It’s a support system. Online social media can affect people daily and it does.

“What do you get back from blogging?” she asked the audience and it got me thinking about what we offer to our readers here and what we expect in return. At the moment, all we want is interaction. We want to hear your voice. That is our reward. Shelters, Andrea pointed out, can become no-kill with the help of a well written blog. “Blogging amplifies your voice. Blogging can have a dramatic impact on saving animals lives.” She goes on to describe the rewards one gets from blogging; Saving animals’ lives, humane education for children, helping increase media opportunities.

Three of my favorite quotes from Andrea were: “Recognize the importance of your history as it relates to blogging.” “The best bloggers are storytellers.” “Think back to a time when things weren’t so obvious to you.” The first is easy enough – we write what we know. The second is also obvious – bloggers are storytellers, there is no doubt. We write. We know words. Simple as that. The third – well, this is one I am constantly telling myself to remember. Not everyone feels the same things as I do. Not every reader is going to think something is so clear and easy to understand. I have to remember that not everyone knows what I know. We’ve all got to start at the beginning.

Andrea gave a phenomenal speech.. She also gave some awesome advice. She talked about how TV shows have what we want: airtime; so whatever we write, whatever we believe, it’s got to be something they want. They want information and “telling your stories can help move people to action.”

This keynote was by far the most inspiring, and Andrea’s last few words to us hit home. “You are helping to create a better world for animals and for people that care for and about them.” Isn’t that what this is all about? I don’t know about you, but personally, I know that’s what I hope for every day of my life. To help animals. To help people help animals. It’s why we’re here; it’s why I am writing this blog post. Why are you here?

Filed under: BlogPaws, Causes, Events, News, Website Related on April 15th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

1…2…3! SING!

Happy birthday to us! Happy birthday to us! Happy birthday dear ILoveRescueAnimals! Happy birthday to us! So I knew our anniversary was coming up and finally decided to check today and guess what? We’re a year old today! Yep, one year ago on this day Nikki finished our design and ILRA went live! Of course, my harebrained scheme began several months before the site was made, first as a small spark of an idea, then as a group on Facebook, and then possibly its most successful move to our twitter account, @RescueAnimals. Finally, finally we got our site! I’ll admit that building our site has been slow-going. Sometimes it’s hard to do all the work you need to when there’s only 2 of us doing it in our spare time but after the BlogPaws conference we are TOTALLY motivated and we know ILRA is about to take off! Thank you so much to those of you who have kept us inspired throughout our journey and we hope you continue to learn and grow with us! I can’t wait to see what comes of the next year!

Filed under: Events, Website Related on April 14th, 2010 | 3 Comments »

What follows is Part 1 of our BlogPaws adventures. This whole week will be a post a day about the sessions we went to, the people we met, the wonderful and inspiring feelings we took back with us from this conference. If you didn’t know, BlogPaws was a conference held in Columbus, Ohio this past weekend that brought together pet bloggers and animal advocates from all over the world. It was truly a life-changing conference.

Our adventure begins in the wee hours of the morning on Friday, with an annoying alarm clock after two hours of fitful sleeping and twenty-two animals demanding their breakfast. Ash and I stumbled around doing last minute packing and cleaning, and trying to get everything done in time. Our plane took off promptly at 9:45am, took two breaks – one in Houston, one in Chicago – and then we landed safe and sound in Columbus Ohio.

As soon as we entered the doors of the beautiful Westin Hotel, I knew it was going to be an amazing event. People were so friendly and helpful, and I instantly felt like we were among friends. Ash and I wandered for awhile before finally finding Caroline and, in turn, Yvonne, two of the three founders of the whole event. They, along with Tom the other founder, had done everything in their power to get us to BlogPaws and we couldn’t be more thankful. Because of them, Pedigree Pet Foods chose us (along with a few others) to send to the conference. We love Pedigree’s Adoption Drive so this was so exciting for us to be able to get their word out. So we met up with Mark, the PR dude for Pedigree, and got all of our goodies and cards to hand out, and then headed upstairs for the night’s event.

Tom started the night off by thanking all the people involved in the event and talked about some of the earlier beginnings of the site. Yvonne added to this with some background of how BlogPaws was started – she and Caroline had met at a BlogHer conference and wondered to themselves what a conference for pet lovers would take to set up. “If we knew what would be involved, we wouldn’t have done it,” Caroline said laughing. Fortunately for all those in attendence, she didn’t, because this first annual BlogPaws conference was beyond a mere success – it was a triumph, a victory, an inspiration.

More speakers came up. First was Susan Resnicoff, Director of Pet Food Marketing at Del Monte Foods, the number one sponsor of the conference. She talked about how we are not owners of our animals, we are Pet Parents and that the biggest thing we can do is nurture the relationship we have with our furry children. She says, “Pet Bloggers are vitally important to the industry,” and in this day, I don’t think she could be more right. She goes on to introduce Charlotte Reed, the pet expert who has been on The View and written dozens of articles/books on “petiquette.” She talked about her influence and why she does what she does. Her advice to BlogPaws-goers: “Listen, learn, and ask questions.” But the biggest thing: “Help each other!”

The night wasn’t over yet. When we had first sat down, we had introduced ourselves to our fellow tablemates. Turns out, we knew some of them on Twitter. Molly of Amazon CARES was seated next to us, and Jo of Enlightened Ferret was there as well. It was so much fun to finally put faces to names and meeting people we had known online. We chatted between speakers and then Caroline got up and started talking about the Sponsors and Yvonne came out to start the first night’s raffle.

The raffle… well let’s just say we may not have gotten anything personally, but in a way, we won big time. But I’m going to leave that for another post. *winks* You’ll just have to wait.

After the speakers were done, a lot of mingling happened. Ash and I went around and introduced ourselves and handed out business cards. We met some awesome new friends that night; 1eyes27toes, PetsBlogRoll (and her cool dad), LNS Consulting, Petfinder, Furminator, grouchypuppy, BZTAT, and Curlz and Swirlz, just to name a few. Throughout the whole conference, this was probably my favorite part. I loved just going around and talking to people – there was an interesting person to talk to whichever way you turned. It was extremely refreshing to talk to people who completely understand where you are coming from when you talk about your love for animals.

Ash and I stayed up for a long time talking to our new friends and tweeting about the on goings of the conference. We didn’t go to bed well after 2 in the morning, but it was worth it. BlogPaws was just beginning.

Filed under: BlogPaws, Causes, Events, News, Website Related on April 12th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

If you haven’t heard, there’s a big old shindig going down in Columbus Ohio this weekend called BlogPaws. And guess what, WE’RE GOING!

Now, both Ash and I thought fate was completely against us going, but as it turns out, never give up hope. Yvonne, Tom, and Caroline, founders of BlogPaws, have bent over backwards to get us to the conference and get a hotel room, and with their help, our airfare is now being sponsored by Pedigree, who chose several bloggers to attend the party of the century, including us! How awesome is that?

In return for Yvonne, Tom, and Caroline’s help, Ash and I will blogging from the floor of the conference, giving you all a running commentary of all the sessions and events, at the BlogPaws’ blog. I’m more than excited and I cannot wait to start connecting with follow animal lovers. But first – a favor from you!

Because we’ll have access to some pretty awesome people and some big name brands, we are opening ourselves up to what YOU guys want to ask. Have a question for someone in particular (check out the speakers that will be there) or just a general inquiry, comment here with it and we will do our best to ask the appropriate person. You can also tweet a question at us, but because twitter will be full of BlogPaws questions and answers, there’s more of a chance we’ll see your question if you ask it here.

Help us make the most of the first ever BlogPaws conference – tell us what you want to learn! If you’re going to BlogPaws, let us know if there’s anything we can do for you and we’ll try and help you make this an amazing experience.

BlogPaws or Bust, y’all! We’re going to bring a little Texas to Columbus!

Filed under: BlogPaws, Events, News on April 9th, 2010 | 2 Comments »